by Raymond Ha, HRNK Office Manager & Outreach Coordinator

Following the passage of draft resolution
A/C.3/70/L.35 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea in the Third Committee of the General Assembly on November
18, the human rights situation in North Korea has maintained a high profile at
the UN.

Most notably, the Security Council held
its second discussion of the subject on December 10, following the historic
discussion last December. China requested another procedural vote on whether to
keep the human rights situation in North Korea on the agenda of the Security
Council, and the motion passed with 9 votes for, 4 against, and 2 abstentions.
The subsequent briefing consisted of statements from Jeffrey Feltman
(Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs), Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
(High Commissioner for Human Rights), all fifteen Security Council members, and
the ambassadors of Japan and the Republic of Korea.

A week after the Security Council
discussion, the plenary session of the General Assembly convened to consider
the report of the Third Committee. Resolution A/C.3/70/L.35 was included on the
agenda, and a recorded vote was requested. The resolution (A/RES/70/172) passed
with 119 votes for, 19 against, and 48 abstentions.

The analysis below summarizes changes in
member states’ voting positions since last month’s vote in the Third Committee,
as a follow-up to the initial analysis of the Third Committee vote last month. While a complete
analysis is not possible until the official records of the plenary session are
released, it is assumed for the purpose of this analysis that all votes, as
recorded electronically on December 17, are true and accurate representations
of member states’ preferences.

Analysis
of Changes in Voting Behavior

The table below extends and updates the
information in the previous analysis. Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea, and
Mongolia are excluded once again, as they did not participate in any of the four
votes.

The list of countries that opposed the
resolution did not change between the Third Committee and the plenary session.
Algeria and Burundi maintained their opposition to the resolution. Comoros,
Gabon, Saudi Arabia, and Togo, which had abstained last year, signaled clear
support for the resolution by voting in favor on both occasions this year.
Somalia was the only member state that moved away from supporting the
resolution, by abstaining during the plenary vote after voting in favor last
year.

Three member states moved towards
supporting the resolution after abstaining in the Third Committee. Burkina Faso
and Ghana, which had voted in favor of the resolution on both occasions last
year, reverted to supporting the resolution. Tonga voted in favor of the
resolution for the first time since last year.

Most of the member states that did not
participate in the Third Committee vote last month voted in favor of the
resolution during the plenary session: Antigua-Barbuda, Benin, the Central
African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Dominica, and Kiribati. This
accounts for most of the increase in the number of votes in support of the
resolution. Of these seven countries, Antigua-Barbuda and the Republic of the
Congo supported the resolution this year after abstaining on both of last
year’s votes. Three consistent supporters of the resolution were absent at
yesterday’s vote: Rwanda, the Seychelles, and Vanuatu. This indicates that the
margin of support for the resolution could arguably have been even wider.

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Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors' and not those of any other person, organization, or entity; they are the authors' alone. Specifically, they do not represent the views of the Board of Directors of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) nor necessarily reflect the official policy or position of HRNK.